Jungle Fever

Charlotte Rogers

Description

The sinister "jungle"—that ill-defined and amorphous place where civilization has no foothold and survival is always in doubt—is the terrifying setting for countless works of the imagination. Films like Apocalypse Now, television shows like Lost, and of course stories like Heart of Darkness all pursue the essential question of why the unknown world terrifies adventurer and spectator alike. In Jungle Fever, Charlotte Rogers goes deep into five books that first defined the jungle as a violent and maddening place. The reader finds urban explorers venturing into the wilderness, encountering and living among the "native" inhabitants, and eventually losing their minds.

The canonical works of authors such as Joseph Conrad, Andre Malraux, Jose Eustasio Rivera, and others present jungles and wildernesses as fundamentally corrupting and dangerous. Rogers explores how the methods these authors use to communicate the physical and psychological maladies that afflict their characters evolved symbiotically with modern medicine. While the wilderness challenges Conrad's and Malraux's European travelers to question their civility and mental stability, Latin American authors such as Alejo Carpentier deftly turn pseudoscientific theories into their greatest asset, as their characters transform madness into an essential creative spark.

Ultimately, Jungle Fever suggests that the greatest horror of the jungle is the unknown regions of the character's own mind.

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• Latin American
• Caribbean

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 15 juillet 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780826518330
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

JUNGLE FEVER Exploring Madness and Medicine in TwentiethCentury Tropical Narratives

CHARLOTTE ROGERS

JUNGLE FEVER

JUNGLE FEVER ✹

Exploring Madness and Medicine in TwentiethCentury Tropical Narratives

Charlotte Rogers

Vanderbilt University Press Nasville

© 2012 by Vanderbilt University Press Nasville, Tennessee 37235 All rigts reserved First printing 2012

his book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in te United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file

ISBN 978-0-8265-1831-6 (clot) ISBN 978-0-8265-1833-0 (e-book)

Acknowledgments

Contents

A Note on Translations

Introduction

1 Discourse and Modernist Prose Medical  inHeart of Darkness

2  Patological Pilosopies of Decay  inhe Way of te Kings

3  Writing inhe Vortex: Madness, Medicine, and te Lost Notebooks of Arturo Cova

4  “No era para narrado”: Narrating Madness inCanaima

5 Science, and Sanity in Surrealism, he Lost Steps

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliograpy

Index

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ix

1

29

63

91

119

143

17 1

185

205

221

Acknowledgments

T            jungles of novels, manuscripts, istorical treatises, and medical texts—writings in tree languages about tropical lands on tree con- tinents. Most of my researc was conducted during my time in te doctoral program of te Department of Spanis and Portuguese at Yale University, in te oldings of te Cusing/Witney Medical Library, te Sterling Memorial Library, and te Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. I tank teir respective staff members for teir invaluable assistance over te years. A generous fellowsip from te Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library made it possible for me in 2007 to study te unpublised works of Conrad oused at te Beinecke and in te Berg Collection of te New York Public Library. Portions of Capter 3 were publised in my article “Medicine, Mad- ness, and Writing inLa vorágine” in teBulletin of Hispanic Studies in January 2010.  Like all travelers in te wilderness wo inevitably lose teir way and require external guidance, I benefited immeasurably from scolars wose comments and expertise pointed me in te rigt direction, espe- cially Rolena Adorno, Cristoper L. Miller, Gustavo Pérez Firmat, and Vera Kutzinski. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Roberto González Ecevarría, wose graduate course “he Jungle Books” first set me on tis adventure, and wose unflagging entusiasm for my work as resulted in te present volume. I also tank Eli Bortz at Vanderbilt Uni- versity Press for being an excellent guide to te process of publication. Finally, I tank my usband, Ricard, for is support of my scolarly quests, and for never minding tat our ome occasionally resembled an ever-encroacing jungle of books.

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A Note on Translations

In translating Frenc and Spanis texts into Englis, I ave used existing translations wenever possible. All renderings of previously untranslated materials into Englis are my own, toug I would like to tank Julie-Françoise Kruidenier Tolliver for er advice in translat- ing Frenc medical texts from te early twentiet century. Wen a publised translation of a particular work exists, I ave generally used only te Englis-language version and corresponding page numbers. In te cases in wic a publised translation is nonexistent, I main- tain te original language’s title and page numbers, wit a translation of te title into Englis in parenteses.

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